What is AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)? What Does It Do?

In the fast and dynamic world of the internet, we all expect the websites we visit to keep up with this speed. Slow-loading or delayed pages not only make it harder to access information but also negatively impact our user experience. Fortunately, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) come to the rescue. But what exactly is AMP, and what are its advantages? If you're ready, let's explore it together.

What is AMP?

AMP, introduced by Google in 2015, is an open-source technology designed to make mobile web pages load faster. In an era where mobile device usage is on the rise, this technology allows users to access the content they are looking for much faster by delivering web pages through methods such as content delivery networks (CDN). Especially platforms like news sites that prioritize user experience and speed can become much more accessible thanks to AMP.

Although mobile-friendly websites today may not necessarily need AMP, many sites still continue to use it. Accelerated mobile pages are essentially a simplified version of HTML. Being open-source allows AMP to be freely used by anyone. In short, if you want to optimize your website for mobile users, you can implement AMP to present your content much faster.

What Does AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) Do?

Even though AMP is a simple technology, its benefits for both websites and users are undeniable. Properly formatted and validated web pages are cached by Google, and when a user wants to visit the page, instead of transferring data from the website, Google serves the cached AMP version. This minimizes transfer and server times, ensuring that the page loads much quicker. If we summarize what AMP does in a few points:

• It allows web content to be displayed much faster for mobile users.
• It reduces page load times, positively impacting a site's search engine ranking performance.
• It helps provide a healthy user experience on devices with low bandwidth and technical specs.
• It offers multi-functional usage by integrating with different content types like mail, ads, and web pages.

In short, accelerated mobile pages are a technology that lets you, as a website owner, optimize your site's pages to offer mobile users a much smoother and faster experience. This way, while improving user experience, you can also boost your website's SEO performance.

Why is AMP Important for Site Speed?

The load times of websites and content have long been a key criterion for performance. Search engines like Google, which prioritize user experience, place site speed among the top factors when ranking sites. This means that website owners need to not only produce original and quality content but also ensure that this content is delivered to users quickly. AMP stands out as a free and effective option for site managers to achieve this.

The content on websites is hosted on servers, and when a user visits a page, the server is required to transfer the data to the user. Depending on the type of web pages and content, this transmission time can be extended. Extended load times lead to unhappy users and, more importantly, poor site performance. However, a website using accelerated mobile pages can serve a pre-cached page to the user in a very short time, putting it a step ahead in terms of speed.

What Are the Advantages of Using AMP?

Websites suitable for accelerated mobile pages can benefit from many advantages of AMP technology. However, it’s worth noting that complex websites with special design elements may not be compatible with AMP. AMP not only helps deliver content quickly but also improves website performance. Here are the most frequently asked AMP advantages:

• Content cached on platforms like Google AMP Cache can help reduce the server load of the website. This supports the faster service of websites.
• Ads accelerated through AMP can appear in front of users faster, which increases the chances of clicks, thereby boosting the site's ad revenue.
• Page load times, which are important for SEO, can help websites rank higher in search results.
• A mobile-friendly experience can encourage users to revisit the site, enhancing user loyalty.
• Users with lower bandwidth and slow internet connections can still access content smoothly thanks to AMP.

How to Set Up AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)?

Accelerated mobile pages can be integrated into websites using platforms like HTML and JavaScript. To integrate AMP into your website, simply use AMP elements in the code. For example, to use AMP within the <html> tag, modify it to <html amp>. You can also include the JS library with the tag “<script async src="https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0.js"></script>”.

If you're using a platform like WordPress, integrating AMP into your site is quite easy. You can make your site compatible quickly with ready-made plugins. Additionally, WordPress AMP plugins allow you to customize the features of accelerated mobile pages and access Analytics.

After integrating AMP into your site, you can check whether the accelerated mobile pages are working correctly through various control tools. Online tools like Google AMP Validator provide an effective way to check if your pages are AMP-compliant. You can also check by adding /amp to the end of a content link in WordPress.

With the knowledge you’ve gained about AMP, you can have a faster website that better serves your users. Moreover, to explore other topics in computing and software, you can visit the Techcareer.net blog page, and check out events to develop your skills and seize new career opportunities. Techcareer.net is a fantastic platform where you can be part of a large community in the IT world and push your limits to discover new things. What are you waiting for? Join us and discover brand-new opportunities!